User:Richard E. Wolf, Jr.

I am a Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. I have been a faculty member since 1975. I received my Ph.D. in Microbiology from University of Cincinnati in 1970. I was a post-doc with Dan Fraenkel at Harvard Medical School's Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics.

I study mechanisms of regulation of E. coli gene expression, in particular SoxS, which is the direct transcription activator of the genes that enable the bacterium to defend itself against superoxide. We have produced evidence that SoxS activates transcription by a new mechanism, which we call "pre-recruitment". We also study Rob, whose amino acid sequence is about 50% identical to that of SoxS and which activates the same set of genes. Recently, we reported that the activity of Rob is regulated by a new mechanism, "sequestration-dispersal". In the absence of an inducing stress, e.g., bile salts or medium chain fatty acids, the 10,000 molecules of Rob per cell reside in 3-5 immunostainable foci and as such are inactive; upon induction, Rob is dispersed and activates transcription of the defense response genes.